Alumnus launches business to help athletes with autism

Assistant football coach Ryan Lockard B.A. ’07 is using his Lewis & Clark degree to run his own business, providing personal training to individuals with special needs.

Launched in 2012, Specialty Athletic Training aims to make clients more comfortable with exercise. Lockard focuses on individuals with autism, a passion that began in his senior year when he worked as a classroom aide for a teenager with the developmental disorder.

“Program design is the biggest difference in working with my clients compared to working with our football players at Lewis & Clark,” Lockard said in a recent interview. “Football players are training to get bigger, faster, and stronger so that they can compete on the field. The parents of my clients understand the short-and long-term benefits of exercise and want their children to enjoy fitness and make it a part of their daily lives.”

In this KGW feature, Lockard talks about the football injury that changed his life, and how he’s in turn changing the lives of those living with autism.